Application servers, such as the WebLogic™ Server available from BEA Systems of San Jose, Calif., allow users to do a number of functions. One of the functions typically supported by application servers is to provide access to a database. In one embodiment, a connection pool such as a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) connection pool is provided by the application server. The connection pool provides a number of already set up connections with a database. These connections are provided to applications of the application server as needed. Such connection pools allow for a relatively large number of applications in the application server to access a database while reducing the database connection time for the application.